let's talk about lumens - kitchen lighting design xpost kitchens

SwentasticJuly 29, 2014

Now that we have our layout finalized, I need to come up with a scheme for the electrician to install lighting. This kitchen will have no upper cabinets but will have cantilevered shelves (so no undercabs) running above all the lowers including over the sink. The top shelf will probably be 12" deep, the bottom shelf 10" deep. I'm going to do some experimenting tonight with a flashlight and my husband to see where the tracks would need to be placed to still illuminate the countertop and not create shadows in the workspace.

The kitchen is about 10 x 26 - by my rudimentary calculations it seems like we need 25000 lumens or 21 bulbs. Does that sound right? I figured them at MAX so we can scale it back.

Here's the scheme I came up with - the lines with circles will be suspended track lighting with adjustable/movable fixtures. The holes are cans. Does this seem like too much? Not enough?

I HATE the lighting in our current kitchen. The cans are such that if my undercabs aren't on, I can't see what I'm doing on the counter. I'm hoping to avoid this by placing the tracks about 20" from the wall.

Can you guys tell me if this looks like it would work OK? I'm totally out of my element here and don't know where to start with looking at fixtures. Any insight you can offer would be much appreciated!!

Thanks David - I've been kicking around the idea of doing low profile strips under the shelves - i might even like to have a channel routered out so they're completely flush but I haven't gotten that far yet. I could also potentially have them install pucks in the bottom of the shelves (since technically they're hollow). I'll have to talk to the electrician and see what his advice is. I appreciate the input!